I don't know why they connected to the first Prey at all. Are people nostalgic over that game?

from what I've seen yes seeing that they left the protagonistof the first ina sorta cliff hanger they were kinda mad they weren't continuin with that character. til they said he'd show up in this game which settled some peoples anger.

2 hours ago - Long in-development Prey 2 is absent from the list of games on Bethesda’s new site redesign. We asked why. Read More »

source:IGN

looks like what happened to obsidian with alpha protocol is happening here too as well. And maybe square Enix should buy this one too like it did sleeping dog's .Only if this is indeed scrapped though.

Human Head's sci-fi FPS is no more.
After years of silence, Bethesda Softworks confirmed at PAX Australia that it’s cancelled its 2011-announced Prey 2.
“It was game we believed in, but we never felt that it got to where it needed to be – we never saw a path to success if we finished it,” Bethesda vice president Pete Hines told CNET.
“It wasn’t up to our quality standard and we decided to cancel it. It’s no longer in development. That wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s one that won’t surprise many folks given that we hadn’t been talking about it.
“Human Head Studios is no longer working on. It’s a franchise we still believe we can do something with — we just need to see what that something is.”
Well. That’s that, then.